1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments relate to a demand response system and method thereof, and more particularly, exemplary embodiments relate to a demand response system and method thereof, which collect information and control electric home appliances of a customer using information and communication technology.
2. Description of Related Art
A power system requires a balance between a supply and a demand. This is important in reasonably utilizing limited energy resources. For this purpose, the necessity of demand management has been emphasized, and research into Demand Response (DR) that is a developed form of demand management has recently increased. Such demand response can be defined as a variation in a consumption/usage pattern depending on a variation in a power rate. Further, demand response can be defined as an incentive payment for suppressing the use of electricity when a market price is high. Demand response also includes an intentional process for changing a consumption pattern, as in the latter case. The demand response of consumers can be derived so that customers can reduce their power consumption while enduring inconvenience during a period in which a power rate is high. An example of this activity is to temporarily stop the usage of air conditioners in the hot summer.
A related art related to such a demand response system includes various technologies disclosed in Korean Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 10-2011-0114437, 10-2011-0095758, 10-2011-0099542, etc.
This related art controls loads (electric home appliances or the like) depending on a real-time power rate or the amount of power used by a customer. Control is mainly performed depending on a real-time variation in the power rate so that when the power rate is high, the use of electric home appliances is restrained, and when the power rate is low, the operations of the electric home appliances are encouraged. Alternatively, a period in which the power used by a customer is high and a period in which the power used by the customer is low are separated and then the operations of the electric home appliances are controlled. However, the real-time power rate is only a power price in a power trading market, and the amount of power used by the customer is not the actual charge for power used by the customer. That is, an amount of money to be paid by the customer is a charge obtained by multiplying a charge rate for a unit of power by the amount of power used. Generally, a real-time power rate and the amount of power used by the customer are proportional to the charge for power used by the customer, but time points at which the minimum and maximum values are generated may differ.
In an extreme example, if it is assumed that when the real-time power rate is low, the use of power by the customer greatly increases, and that when the real-time power rate is high, the use of power by the customer hardly occurs, the minimum and maximum values of the charge for power used by the customer may appear at time points quite different from the time points at which the minimum and maximum values for the real-time power rate and the amount of power used by the customer appear. Therefore, it is difficult to produce effective results from the control of demand response based on both the real-time power rate and the amount of power used by the customer. Further, the effect of power rate savings felt by the user of a particular customer (e.g., a power supply company) may be insignificant.